After the success of the West Asian Festival, which ended this month, the Uzbekistan Football Federation is determined to ensure the four Central Asian nations taking part from April 13-26 will enjoy a memorable two weeks.

AFC Grassroots & Youth Director John Whittle said Uzbekistan has good experience in hosting top events.

“They have host AFC Champions League matches and last year’s AFC U16 Championship, so they know how to host competitions,” said Whittle, who this week returned from Tashkent.

“Everything looks fine and we are looking forward to a great competition.”

This will be the second of five Festivals of Football to be held this year. Other festivals will be held in Iran (South Asia), Malaysia (Asean) and China (East Asia).

Uzbekistan will be joined by Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan for the Festival, which will also feature a referees course and C Certificate coaching course.

The Uzbek team will feature boys who were acting as ball boys in last year’s festival. And it is hoped that the ball boys being used next month would follow suit and represent their country in future festivals.